Netanyahu has saidno supplies would be forthcoming from Israeli territory until Hamas released hostages,of which 212 remain captive after two American women were released late last week,according to new figures relayed by Israeli Defence Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus on Monday.

The Biden administration has advised Israel to delay its much-anticipated ground invasion of Gaza to allow more time for hostage negotiations and aid deliveries,The New York Times reported.

Officials told the newspaper the US also wanted more time to prepare for potential attacks on nearby American interests by Iranian-backed groups sparked by a ground invasion,but still supported Israel’s intention to move into Gaza.

A diplomat from the Israeli embassy in Washington denied theTimesreport was true,saying while Israel was in “close dialogue and consultations” with the US,it had not been told to delay an invasion.

Biden reiterated US support for Israel’s right to defend itself in a joint statement with the leaders of Britain,France,Germany,Canada and Italy,which also committed to diplomatic efforts to prevent the conflict from spreading.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank,two Palestinians were killed at the Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah,the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Residents said Israeli forces raided the camp and carried out widespread arrests,as they clashed with gunmen and some youths who threw stones. The Israeli army has not issued a statement about the incident.

Conricus said the Israeli military was stepping up its attacks. It hit Gaza with air strikes early on Monday (Israel time) – a day after striking southern Lebanon,two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants.

The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said airstrikes hit residential apartments in the town of Khan Younis and the Nuseirat refugee camp,both of which are south of the Wadi Gaza evacuation line.

Israel repeated its calls for people to leave northern Gaza,including by dropping leaflets from the air. It estimated 700,000 have already fled but hundreds of thousands remain. That would raise the risk of mass civilian casualties in any ground offensive.

Conricus also accused Hezbollah of escalating the conflict. Israeli soldiers and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants have traded fire across the Israeli-Lebanon border since Hamas’ October 7 incursion into Israel,but the launches so far have targeted limited areas.

“Bottom line is … Hezbollah is playing a very,very dangerous game,” Conricus said. “[It is] extremely important for everybody in Lebanon to ask themselves the question of the price:is the Lebanese state really willing to jeopardise what is left of Lebanese prosperity and Lebanese sovereignty for the sake of terrorists in Gaza?”

Hezbollah has vowed to step up involvement if Israel were to begin a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. Israel said it would retaliate aggressively and warned Lebanon not to let itself get dragged into a new war.

Netanyahu visited troops stationed near the Lebanese border on Sunday,where he referenced the month-long war with Hezbollah that ended in a tense stalemate in 2006.

“If Hezbollah decides to enter the war,it will miss the Second Lebanon War. It will make the mistake of its life,” Netanyahu said. “We will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine,and the consequences for it and the Lebanese state are devastating.”

The Egyptian military said Israeli shelling hit a watchtower on Egypt’s side of the border on Monday (AEDT),causing light injuries. The Israeli military apologised,saying a tank had accidentally fired and hit an Egyptian post,and the incident was being investigated.

With AP,Reuters

More coverage of the Hamas-Israel conflict

• Cascading violence:Tremors from the Hamas attacks and Israel’s response have reached far beyond the border. But what would all-outwar in the Middle East look like?
• The human cost: Hamas’ massacre in Israel has traumatised – and hardened – survivors. And in Gaza,neighbourhoods have become ghost cities.
• “Hamas metro”:Inside thelabyrinthine network of underground tunnels,which the Palestinian militant group has commanded beneath war-ravaged Gaza for 16 years. The covert corridors have long provided essential channels for the movement of weapons and armed combatants.
• What is Hezbollah?: As fears of the conflict expanding beyond Israel and Hamas steadily rise,all eyes are on the militant group and political party that controls southern Lebanon and has been designated internationally as a terrorist group.How did it form and what does Iran have to do with it?

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